Last week, Austin’s NPR-affliate KUT News explored the nuts and bolts of Austin affordable housing in a four-part series – “Under One Roof: Affordable Housing 101.“ The series asked the question “just how does affordable housing work in Austin?”Here are links to the individual stories: Part One: The Users. Affordable housing wait lists can last […]
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NLIHC Highlights Nacogdoches Tenant Association
May 21, 2013 
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The Spring 2013 issue of Tenant Talk, a publication of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, contains a moving essay by Gloria More about organizing her fellow tenants of the Eastwood Terrace, a property in Nacogdoches, Texas: The view outside my window painted a dismal scene. I closed my eyes and tried to picture the […]
Read more Galveston agrees to steps to rebuild public housing
April 23, 2013 0 Comments
It appears that the rebuilding of the 569 public housing in Galveston demolished in the wake of Hurricane Ike may be back on track. Sources tell me that the Galveston Housing Authority voted today 4-1 to accept the requirements of the Texas General Land Office concerning the rebuilding of public housing. Last week the Galveston City […]
Read more Will Texas learn a lesson from the tragedy at West?
April 18, 2013 1 Comment
Everyone is horrified at the loss of life and destruction last night from the explosion of a fertilizer plant in the town of West. One of the many things we must resolve in light of this disaster is to make sure that steps are taken to prevent a recurrence elsewhere. It was clearly a mistake […]
Read more State halts Galveston funding over failure to build public housing: TX Land Commissioner Patterson explains
April 11, 2013 1 Comment
By Jerry Patterson The city of Galveston has a choice to make as we try to move forward with plans to complete the recovery from Hurricane Ike: Either quit dragging its feet and comply with the federal requirements as well as the city of Galveston’s own council resolution to rebuild public housing adopted on Sept. […]
Read more Fort Bend County is nation’s most ethnically diverse county in US – Houston Chronicle
April 2, 2013 0 Comments
Fort Bend County is the most ethnically diverse county in the United States. And according to the 2010 federal census, it comes closer than any other U.S. county to having an equal distribution of the nation’s four major ethnic groups. In 2010, Fort Bend County was 19 percent Asian, 24 percent Latino, 21 percent African-American […]
Read more Chrishelle Palay helps Houston’s poor and needy plead their cause
April 2, 2013 0 Comments
Open your mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy. – Proverbs 31:9 . Chrishelle Palay works to help the poor plead their own cause and she lends her voice to their cause as well. Palay is the policy analyst for Texas Low Income Housing Information Service in Houston. Her mission […]
Read more TxLIHIS policy analyst Josué Ramírez supports colonia residents’ search for solutions
April 1, 2013 2 Comments
Although only 24 years old, Josué Ramírez has taken on a leading role in working with grassroots community leaders to solve one of our nation’s biggest housing and poverty challenges — the impoverished colonias of the Texas-Mexico border region. Josué is a policy analyst for Texas Low Income Housing Information Service working out of our new […]
Read more Homer the homeless goose and Blackland neighborhood – an oral history tribute
March 31, 2013 0 Comments
Happy 25th birthday Homer! via Ball: Homer the homeless goose celebrates 25th birthday,… | http://www.statesman.com. In honor of Homer we are publishing a chapter from an oral history of the affordable housing movement in Austin that was prepared for TxLIHIS by Joshua Knobe back in 2000. The Blackland Neighborhood and the Street People’s Advisory Committee […]
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The Blogosphere Discusses Segregation in Austin
March 14, 2013 0 Comments
Over the last two months, there’s been an uptick in folks visiting the Texas Housers website after searching on terms that are some variation of “segregation in Austin.” This traffic can be traced back to a Texas Monthly article “What Nobody Says About Austin: Is Austin the state’s most segregated city?,” and a couple of […]
Read more Ruby Roa, the American-Statesman’s Volunteer of the Year
January 1, 2013 0 Comments
Congratulations to Ruby Roa for being named “Volunteer of the Year” by the Austin American Statesman. Meet Ruby Roa, the American-Statesman’s Volunteer of the Year | http://www.statesman.com. The Statesman recognized Ruby for her work as an advocate for housing for the poor. At TxLIHIS we have worked with Ruby for many years, are proud to know […]
Read more Notice at apartment complex targets young blacks – Houston Chronicle
November 21, 2012 Comments Off
The Houston Chronicle is reporting on a notice found posted at a southwest Houston apartment complex warning residents to report black youths on the property. According to the Chronicle story, there is some indication that the notice may have been posted by the apartment management. The Chronicle reports however that the apartment manager denies knowledge […]
Read more Aunt Bertha points people to help
November 20, 2012 Comments Off
A colleague just pointed out an interesting new website designed to refer people needing help in a range of areas, including housing to agencies and services. The Austin American-Statesman wrote a backgrounder on the site and the people behind it. It looks pretty cool. So far, Aunt Bertha serves Central Texas, but is rapidly expanding […]
Read more Map shows precinct results for Austin housing bond defeat
November 11, 2012 Comments Off
Last Tuesday the $78 million Austin housing bond proposition was narrowly rejected by the voters by a margin of 51.4%. The City of Austin has mapped the percentage of votes against the bonds. The dark red areas had the greatest percentage voting for the bonds and the dark blue areas had the greatest percentage voting […]
Read more $78M Austin housing bond issue narrowly defeated; Houston passes $15M in housing bonds
November 8, 2012 Comments Off
The $78 million housing bond proposal by the City of Austin was narrowly rejected by voters Tuesday. The vote was 114,330 (68.6%) for the bonds to 121,071 (51.4%) against. Voters approved all the city’s other bonds propositions. A smaller housing bond issue of $15 million by the City of Houston was approved by that city’s voters. […]
Read more Houston voters decide on housing bonds today
November 6, 2012 Comments Off
While Austin voters will decide today on $78,300,000 in bonds for housing, voters in Houston go to the polls to vote on $15,000,000 in housing bonds. Here is the bond language from the City of Houston’s website: PROPOSITION E The issuance of $15,000,000 affordable housing bonds for the acquisition, construction, rehabilitation and equipment of affordable housing […]
Read more Housing bonds before Austin voters today
November 6, 2012 Comments Off
Here is a background story from the Austin American-Statesman. From the City of Austin’s website: Ballot Language: The issuance of $78,300,000 housing bonds and notes and the levy of a tax sufficient to pay for the bonds and notes. If approved, this proposition would allow the City to continue to fund the development of affordable […]
Read more Latest data shows TX minimum wage earners can’t afford half the rent on a typical apartment
March 13, 2012 Comments Off
According to a national report released today, the Housing Wage for Texas is $15.88. The Housing Wage is the hourly wage a family must earn – working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year – to be able to afford the rent and utilities for a safe and modest home in the private housing […]
Read more ‘Homeless hotspots’ at South X Southwest stir controversy
March 12, 2012 Comments Off
A company has handed out mobile hotspots to homeless folks to walk around SXSW in Austin and people pay them $2 to get a connection to the internet. This set off a lot of comment with some people saying it is exploration and others (including some of the “homeless hotspots” as the workers are known) […]
Read more Housing authority shake-up may be under way – Houston Chronicle
February 29, 2012 Comments Off
The Houston Chronicle reports… Harris County Commissioners Court on Tuesday replaced the board chairman of the Harris County Housing Authority, starting what appears will be an extended shake-up at the agency following revelations of imprudent spending. … Tuesday’s appointment comes as the authority is negotiating with CEO Guy Rankin IV about the terms of his departure […]
Read more The Harris County Housing Authority gets motivated to act like the top 1 percent
February 27, 2012 Comments Off
If the previous blog post was not a sufficient indictment of the outrageous spending by the Harris County Housing Authority check out Mike Morris’ Houston Chronicle blog post. He documents the cost of getting the housing authority staff motivated through… A $5,500 fee for motivation speaker Garrison Wynn to address authority staff at their July 30, […]
Read more Harris County Housing Authority’s excesses exposed by Houston Chronicle
February 27, 2012 1 Comment
“Appalling. … One of the greater abuses of appointed office that I’ve seen,” Harris County Judge Ed Emmett told the Houston Chronicle. That does not overstate the bizarre expenditures at the Harris County Housing Authority, based on today’s story by Mike Morris in the Houston Chronicle. Yet inexplicably, the Harris County Housing Authority boasts it is HUD’s highest-performing housing authority in the […]
Read more The ‘Whitest town in North Texas’ fights to keep it that way
February 27, 2012 Comments Off
This might just be the ideal place to film a remake of “Birth Of A Nation,” D.W. Griffith’s silent film extolling the KKK. Proud of its designation as a “film friendly community” by the Texas Film Commission, the Dallas suburb of Sunnyvale is not extending a friendly spirit toward low income people and African American […]
Read more HUD rejects City of Houston fair housing effort
February 8, 2012 1 Comment
HUD has rejected the City of Houston’s fair housing plan known as the Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing (AI). The City is required to produce and carry out a plan to “affirmatively further fair housing” as a condition for receiving federal funds for housing and community development. In a letter we obtained under the […]
Read more Dallas fumbles in the absence of a housing policy
January 18, 2012 2 Comments
Housing segregation is a problem most Texas communities struggle with. Crippled by a lack of political courage and leadership no city seems to struggle more than Dallas, often with serious consequences. The Dallas Morning News (DMN) ran a front page story Sunday about a dispute between the backers of two proposed Low Income Housing Tax […]
Read more DMN editorial says paper will push housing in 2012
January 8, 2012 Comments Off
An editorial in today’s Dallas Morning News says the paper will editorially push two housing issues on the editorial pages in 2012. A monitoring of nonprofits to replace dilapidated housing and revitalize neighborhoods. A look into tax-credit housing — how the process goes awry and the impact that such housing concentration has in southern Dallas. […]
Read more Couple lives in tent waiting for Ike-damaged home’s repair | khou.com Houston
September 17, 2011 Comments Off
Just when you think you have seen the worst government can do to Hurricane Ike victims along comes this story. This is funded with the $3.1 billion State administered disaster recovery program. Is no one monitoring how local recipients of the funds treat the people who are being “assisted” under the program? (Watch the video) […]
Read more On 3rd anniversary 200 tell Houston City Council reforms are needed in Hurricane Ike recovery program
September 14, 2011 Comments Off
The following testimony was presented before the Houston City Council on the third anniversary of Hurricane Ike, September 13, 2011.
Read more Protesters say city slow to repair Ike-damaged houses – Houston Chronicle
September 13, 2011 Comments Off
Bearing photos of homes that still have blue tarps on the roofs, more than 100 protesters held a rally at City Hall on the third anniversary of Hurricane Ike on Tuesday and pleaded with the City Council to accelerate its repair program. “I’m tired of the city telling me to be patient,” said Elvis Malveaux at […]
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